1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a digital picture frame. More particularly, the present invention relates to a digital picture frame that uses a Wi-Fi camera to stream videos.
2. Description of the Related Art
Traditionally, photos are kept in photo albums. However, since photos are prone to damage or tend to fade with time, even photo albums are inadequate in preserving photos. Besides, inserting and retrieving photos through a photo album are rather inconvenient as well.
Thanks to developments in computer technologies, most photos now can be scanned into electronic format for preserving or directly taken as digital photos by digital cameras, so that people can browse their photos in computer. However, since the digital photos stored in the computer can only be available when the computer is on, it is still inconvenient in terms of photo browsing and sharing. To answer the call for the digital photos to be rightly available in the living room, the bedroom, and the office, an independent digital picture frame is specifically developed for digital-photo displaying. For most present-day digital picture frames, the digital photos, video clips, and music stored in a storage medium are accessed, displayed, or played by means of a built-in memory slot or a card reader. And the design of the appearance is similar to traditional picture frame. Moreover, most of the additional functions are intended for environment detection, through which the characteristics of the device are adjusted automatically or the display functions are activated. For instance, when the brightness of the environment is identified, the brightness of display will be adjusted automatically. Or, when changes in light or sound are detected, automatic functions such as the display function will be activated.
In recent years, due to the rapid growth of wireless network technologies, along with the proliferation of multimedia devices and the advance in digital data encoding/decoding solutions, it has become a trend in telecommunication technologies to integrate wireless network functions with all kinds of services related to multimedia contents. Given the significant developments in technologies related to digital display, image processing, and wireless communication, along with the substantial improvement in the performance of digital processors and the increasing capacities of storage media with decreased prices, it is advantageous to use the functions of traditional digital picture frames as a basis and to capitalize on the good quality of the display and the mobility of the digital picture frame to develop more functions and devices that can better accommodate daily requirements. For example, functions such as wireless surveillance and video recording, wireless Internet access, support for various storage media or for wireless digital data exchange, etc., will certainly help transform the traditional digital picture frame into a popular multi-functional product in regular households and provide better using experience.